Thanksgiving Blessings - Part II

So part II of our Thanksgiving road trip led us to Grandma and Grandpas house.  It was the first time in quite a while that all our aunts and uncles were there too.  That led to several photo ops as you will see below so we could capture the moment.  These pictures were taken after our big Thanksgiving meal, the kids played around while we took some pictures and just enjoyed the beautiful evening together.

Here is the best shot (out of more than I will see) in which we all managed to keep our eyes open and the kids smiling.  Pretty good for a non-pro pic!  Mark's "gwirl" Rae-Rae was sweet enough to take this for us (more on that later, as there is a story to share).

Grandpa & AJ hanging out together

Aunt Wiz & Aunt Ju-Ju were picture ready as always:

Now for the "gwirl" story.  Uncle Marky brought home his girlfriend for Thanksgiving.  We all found that Rae-Rae fit perfectly in with us siblings and had fun getting to meet her.  I will never forget our awesome Catch Phrase game - that's when she won me over.  I've never laughed so hard, it was greatness.  I love when all the siblings can spend time together, it always makes for fun.  Apparently Rae-Rae also won over Mr. AJ.  During our big photo op (top picture) of the family, as Rae-Rae was taking our picture, AJ pipes up "Marky.... is that your gwirl?"  It was so sweet and we all busted out laughing.  Marky immediately confirmed that was his "gwirl" and we couldn't help but notice that after that AJ made a point to worm his way between the two of them on the couch and would cuddle up to Rae-Rae.. seems little man was making a move on Uncle Marky's gwirl :-)  Such a ladies man!  Below: Marky and Rae-Rae.

KK had fun riding the scooter and playing a game of soccer with everyone, showing off her skills.  While I didn't get a good shot of everyone playing - she and the uncles had some moves!

For AJ it was the leaves that brought total JOY in playing outside - something we don't have at our home.  He loved throwing them, raking them... and especially burying Uncle Steve under the leaves before attacking him.  It was a boy's playground and little man was thrilled.

The reason I post the next picture is just for laughs... if you look at AJ you will see that he was on a roll after Thanksgiving dinner... I love that little man.

 A picture of me and my hubby... we don't have many alone shots these days :-)

A family shot of just us -we thank God for these two big blessings!

KK and AJ with Grandma and Grandpa:

So those were the after Thanksgiving pictures.... yes I did this out of order but they were so cute and I just wanted to roll this way.  Thanksgiving dinner was delicious - turkey, potatoes, corn & green bean casseroles.  Yummy!  Here is KK and AJ at their "kiddy" table ready to start the party and the adult table too:

Of course the rest of our visit was fun too - lots of playing with our aunts and uncles.  KK and AJ discovered that Uncle Steve and Aunt Ju-Ju were excellent targets to convince to take them to the basement where all the toys are and listen to music and play games for hours on end.  No matter how tired they were, Steve and Ju-Ju couldn't seem to say no to them. 

KK was especially delighted to spend extra time with Ju-Ju and Liz doing girl stuff.  She loves just sitting in Ju-Ju's room and they will listen to music or sit around the talk silly talk.  I'm not allowed to know all the details of their time together, I just know that their special elationship they started when KK was barely two is still strong as ever.  Watching her say goodbye to her Ju-Ju makes these trips hard, but seeing her joy when they are reunited makes it worth the tears in the end.

The final highlight of the trip I wanted to remember was our movie.  Typically when we visit Grandma and Grandpa's house at Thanksgiving, the family goes to the movies together.  This was the first year that sweet AJ was big enough to join us.  The movie: The Muppet's!  Best.Movie.Ever.  KK still talks about how Ju-Ju laughed so hard she cried when the chickens sang "forget you"... lots of laughs all around!

Another Thanksgiving roadtrip was complete - we were exhausted and so happy to see our beds and home again at the end of the week, but we loved spending time with all our families and making memories together.  We truly have so much to be thankful for - Thank you God for all the blessings you have given us!  May we cherish them daily and never take them for granted!

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!